A Controlled Challenge Study on Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) in House Dust and the Immune Response in Human Nasal Mucosa of Allergic Subjects

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives Vol. 116; no. 11; pp. 1487 - 1493
• Main Authors: Deutschle, Tom, Reiter, Rudolf, Butte, Werner, Heinzow, Birger, Keck, Tilman, Riechelmann, Herbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. National Institutes of Health. Department of Health, Education and Welfare 01.11.2008; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Subjects: Adult; Aerosols; Allergens; Allergic reaction; Allergies; Allergy; Attenuation; Cationic; Chemical hazards; Copyrights; Cytokines; Cytokines - biosynthesis; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; Diethylhexyl Phthalate - toxicity; Dust; Dust - analysis; Dust control; Environmental health; Eosinophils; Evaluation; Exposure; Female; Fibroblasts; Gene Expression Profiling; Genes; Growth factors; Health; Health aspects; Hormones; House dust; Houses; Human; Humans; Hypersensitivity - immunology; Immune response; Influence; Interleukin; Male; Mites; Nasal mucosa; Nasal Mucosa - drug effects; Nasal Mucosa - immunology; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Phthalates; Proteins; Secretion; Transcriptional regulatory elements; Germany; nasal exposure system; house dust; hypersensitivity; microarray analysis; DEHP; allergy; nasal mucosa; cytokines; di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate; nasal challenge
• ISSN: 0091-6765; 1552-9924
• DOI: 10.1289/ehp.11474

Background: Few studies have yet addressed the effects of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in house dust on human nasal mucosa. Objectives: We investigated the effects of house dust containing DEHP on nasal mucosa of healthy and house dust mite (HDM)-allergic subjects in a short-term exposure setting. Methods: We challenged 16 healthy and 16 HDM-allergic subjects for 3 hr with house dust at a concentration of 300 μg/m³ containing either low (0.41 mg/g) or high (2.09 mg/g) levels of DEHP. Exposure to filtered air served as control. After exposure, we measured proteins and performed a DNA microarray analysis. Results: Nasal exposure to house dust with low or high DEHP had no effect on symptom scores. Healthy subjects had almost no response to inhaled dust, but HDM-allergic subjects showed varied responses:${\rm DEHP}_{\text{low}}$house dust increased eosinophil cationic protein, granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), interleukin (IL)-5, and IL-6, whereas${\rm DEHP}_{\text{high}}$house dust decreased G-CSF and IL-6. Furthermore, in healthy subjects, DEHP concentration resulted in 10 differentially expressed genes, whereas 16 genes were differentially expressed in HDM-allergic subjects, among them anti-Müllerian hormone, which was significantly up-regulated after exposure to${\rm DEHP}_{\text{high}}$house dust compared with exposure to${\rm DEHP}_{\text{low}}$house dust, and fibroblast growth factor 9, IL-6, and transforming growth factor-β1, which were down-regulated. Conclusions: Short-term exposure to house dust with high concentrations of DEHP has attenuating effects on human nasal immune response in HDM-allergic subjects, concerning both gene expression and cytokines.